The Manning brothers may have pulled off their biggest heist yet.
Sure, that’s the theme of this year’s Manningcast schedule release from Omaha Productions: An Ocean’s 11-style heist film, culminating in the reveal of the games they will be calling this coming season (including the Super Bowl), but the biggest heist of all may be what the former NFL stars pulled off onscreen in a 15-minute short film unveiling the schedule.
The film, titled Manningcast: Heist, features some 40 cameos, spanning A-list movie stars to current and former NFL stars, and even a starring role by the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell himself. The result is high-energy, surprising and funny, with stars like Anne Hathaway, Jon Hamm, Paul Rudd, Larry David and Jason and Travis Kelce securing unexpected roles for themselves.
“The tone of the heist is sort of a larger metaphor for the show itself,” says Omaha Productions president Jamie Horowitz, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “The Manningcast is meant to be a safe space, a show where everybody can just come on and talk about a love of football. And you may have heard this before, but Omaha has very pure brand values — we try to uplift and unify — and we hope you see that in everything we do. And we also hope that people feel those values in that piece. This video is trying to be just a joyride of fun.”
According to Therese Andrews, the head of production
According to Therese Andrews, the head of production at Omaha, planning for the reveal started in late 2024, and they began production in early 2025 at the Pro Bowl, where they could secure the first round of cameos.
“We map out the cameo roles early on when we do the script, thinking about what kind of people we want, and then we chip away throughout the entirety of the year to see how to build into that,” Andrews says, crediting Omaha writer and producer DJ Gallo with building out the heist concept. “The process with the creative is both scripted and it’s also sort of improv as we go. So as we book certain people, we’re reshaping the creative based on who we think is gettable, who might be interested in it, and then we rework every time we film with somebody.”
Omaha executives credit the Manningcast itself as being a helpful piece of that puzzle. In fact, they see the over-the-top promotion of the NFL altcast as serving as a virtuous circle.
I think part of the reason that Paul
“I think part of the reason that Paul Rudd, Kevin Hart, or David Letterman appears on the Manningcast is because we do things like this,” Horowitz says. “If theManningcast was just a football show, Peyton and Eli probably could still recruit lots of great people. But the more you see these types of projects from Omaha outside of Monday night, the more likely creative people want to be part of our little world.”
ESPN surely doesn’t mind if Omaha goes hard on promotion either, especially with the sports media giant’s first Super Bowl coming at the end of this season.
The result is a piece of content (a promo video no less!) that levels up their ambitions and brings a whole host of stars along for the ride.
“The Mannings work the same way they played football; they’re just always sort of eye on the prize of what’s the next play, and how do we evolve and figure out how to make things bigger,” says Andrews. “That’s part of our process throughout the whole journey. As much as this is about the Manningcast, it’s really a collection of talent, and finding a way to make something that’s dynamic and fun for people to watch and just celebrate the fact that football is coming back.”
